POILoader - manual mode

Running a quick test on a single POI file, I find that choosing manual and leaving all boxes unchecked results in a POI file being created.

I have no idea what sort of alert is generated in this scenario.

Leaving all boxes unchecked is NOT the same as choosing to ignore the file (which results in no POI being created).

Setting speed or proximity are options, so the file is processed without those options.

One exception though is when the file name contains a number. Then the file is processed as if it contains a speed alert. The number(s) in the file name are used as the speed.

For MOST of my POI files I don't want an alert. I don't really want to know every time I pass a Wells Fargo location, a Safeway, etc. When I'm on the road I like to be able to find certain places in strange towns but I'd really hate to get an alert when I wasn't interested.

I use alerts for red light/speed cameras and for rest areas. I set my rest area alert at 2 miles which gives us plenty of warning to decide if we want to stop or not. With a 2 mile warning we can check the POI file if we like to see how far it would be to the next rest area.

When you get to that POI, the checkbox is checked for speed and the field contains that number...

That's not been my experience. But then I don't run POI Loader in manual - and haven't in over a year.

I've loaded files that have had speed alerts built-in to the file for some locations, other locations with no speed information but I still wanted a speed alert. I set some locations using the @, and the file name contained my default. All locations alerted at the default - except where the speed was set using the @. It used the speed following the @. If POI Loader acted as you state, then if my @ speed was higher than the default (and it always is) I would get the urgent repeating alert for exceeding the default speed.

Has anyone broken down a GPI file to see exactly how it is written regarding speed information? I have to assume POI Loader follows its rules that internal information is used before POI Loader settings which is before file name settings.

Reading through some of the help file info, I've confused myself. If I read it right, POILoader will not allow you to manually configure the alert if the appropriate trigger is in the file name.

My POI files are a mix of GPX and CSV. I only know if there's speed or proximity info if the name of the file includes the appropriate trigger. And if it does, I see no point to using manual mode.

For a POI file that has no triggers in the name, I assume I can set an alert radius by using manual mode and specifying the distance. But if I check no boxes for that file, I assume it's included with no alert radius or speed set.

So if I understand correctly, the only option that manual mode provides is that it allows me to provide an alert radius/speed for files with no speed or prox triggers in the name. Otherwise, express mode is the best way to install the POIs.

Is my understanding correct? (I think this is what Box Car was telling me in the first reply to my query).

Also, my brief experience with POILoader and manual mode reflects what camerabob said about POI files with triggers... the speed box and value are already checked.

Below are a few excerpts from:
http://www8.garmin.com/products/poiloader/creating_custom_po...

If a file contains "GATSO," "mobile," "SPECS," "safety," "speed," or "camera," but does not have a speed, POI Loader uses a default alert speed of 0, which means you will always be alerted. You can override this default value by entering the speed in Manual mode

***********
Speed Information

Speed information can be included in the file name or in the names of individual POIs within the file.

POI Loader determines speed information based on the following information, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Speed information included in the name of the individual Custom POI. For example, a POI named "SpeedZone@30" will have an alert speed of 30 regardless of the speed information specified in Manual mode or in the file name.
2. Speed information entered in Manual mode.
3. Speed information included in the file name. POI Loader interprets any numbers in the file name as speed information

***********
Proximity Alert Information

POI Loader determines proximity alert information based on the following criteria, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Proximity alert information listed for individual POIs in a .gpx file. This information overrides all other proximity alert information.
2. Proximity alert information entered in Manual mode.
3. Proximity alert distance calculated by POI Loader based on speed information in the file name or in individual POI names. This calculation uses the following formula:

Prompt Distance = 36 seconds * Speed.

4. A default proximity alert distance of 400 meters/0.25 miles if the file name contains the word "redlight."
5. If there is a TourGuide audio file attached and no other proximity alert information is available, POI Loader assigns a proximity alert distance of 0.25 miles

From my experience, that is correct. Manual mode adds the options to add additional alerts to those that would be entered through the express mode. Info set into the file to create alerts are kept in both manual and express modes.

I just played with a couple of files I happened to have on this PC and Camerabob is correct about the digits being taken from the file name and used as the speed option in manual mode. I did find you can change the speed value from the default, but like any file with options being set in Poi Loader you get only one or the other.

That's interesting. From what I read, I thought that the value of the trigger word/# cannot be changed by manual mode. Or more to the point, that the trigger will trump anything changed manually. So either I read that wrong or it doesn't work the way I thought it did. (no surprise there!)

It still fits the hierarchy. Internal settings are primary, Poi Loader settings secondary, and file names last.

Speed Information

Speed information can be included in the file name or in the names of individual POIs within the file.

POI Loader determines speed information based on the following information, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Speed information included in the name of the individual Custom POI. For example, a POI named "SpeedZone@30" will have an alert speed of 30 regardless of the speed information specified in Manual mode or in the file name.

2. Speed information entered in Manual mode.

3. Speed information included in the file name. POI Loader interprets any numbers in the file name as speed information.

Proximity Alert Information

Proximity alert information can be calculated automatically based on speed information. It can also be included in .gpx data files or added in Manual mode.

POI Loader determines proximity alert information based on the following criteria, listed from highest to lowest priority:

1. Proximity alert information listed for individual POIs in a .gpx file. This information overrides all other proximity alert information.

2. Proximity alert information entered in Manual mode.

3. Proximity alert distance calculated by POI Loader based on speed information in the file name or in individual POI names. This calculation uses the following formula:

Prompt Distance = 36 seconds * Speed.

4. A default proximity alert distance of 400 meters/0.25 miles if the file name contains the word "redlight."

5. If there is a TourGuide audio file attached and no other proximity alert information is available, POI Loader assigns a proximity alert distance of 0.25 miles.

Hadn't we been saying that all along? There was no disagreement to what the help file said, so why repeat it?

Ah, I see. I was confusing #1 and #3 in the help file list. I must not have done well with reading comprehension in school.

#1 is a little confusing to me. Seems like some double-speak to me:
"a POI named "SpeedZone@30" will have an alert speed of 30 regardless of the speed information specified in Manual mode or in the file name."

If a POI is named something.. that is also in the file name. Are internal settings always evident in the file name as per the example?

The term POI is used a couple of ways. A POI is a single Point Of Interest. A POI file is a collection of related POI. So a speed camera at a location with the name Main and West @30 is a POI, the file (Main Street 25) containing all the speed camera POI is a POI File with a default speed entry of 25 for all the locations (POI) that do not have an @ symbol.

I finally understand the difference regarding the hierarchy. Thanks for the help.

I didn't understand that a POI could have trigger info (as well as a POI file). Now I see that trigger info on the POI level trumps manual mode changes or POI file name triggers.

That begs the question that when I d/l a POI file, how can I know if any of the POIs have trigger data that I cannot change?

I suppose if the file is small enough, it's a trivial thing to take a look at it via Excel (for CSV) or an HTML editor or other means of looking at a GPX file. But a large POI file would not be practical to scan item by item.

For instance, I have redone my POIs and installed them via the express method. Yet I'm still getting bong bong and visual alerts for things (Starbucks, etc.) that I want in my POI database but don't care to have general alerts for.

How do I kill the general alert and keep the POI file?

Glad I could help clear up your confusion. It took me a little while to get it straight as well, so don't feel like you were the only one having an issue with it.

Again, you raise a couple of related items in your questions. Here's ONE way to address the questions.

For CSV files, look first for a number in the file name, then do a search in column C for the @ symbol. These are triggers along with keywords listed in the POILoader help File.

For GPX files, I am a BIG fan of Turbo's Extra POI Editor. If a GPX file has alerts, you can remove them in one step using the Replace Field function (CTL-R). Open the file in EPE, do a CTL-R, select Proximity and leave the value blank. Tell it to replace. The same for speed. and then save the file.

You will get the default Bongs if you have an alert set, but no corresponding alert sound file. Having an alert sound file and icon file doesn't automatically generate an alert trigger. I have sound and icon files for many of my poi that load but don't alert. If you are getting alerts when you thought you cleared them, then you have multiple GPI files containing the same locations. This can be one of the "gotcha's" with the renaming procedure.

True, the loading (or reloading) of POI files can be sped up by using smaller source file groups and renaming the output poi.GPI file, but the possibility of having multiple files for the same locations increases. The majority of the load time isn't the transfer speed between the processor and the unit, it's the amount of time it takes to read the source files and for POILoader to write the poi.GPI file. My processor has multiple cores so it can work a file faster if the software takes advantage of that fact. POILoader doesn't appear to use this capability so it is entirely dependent on the raw speed of the processor clock.

I have been following this thread and will be interested in what speedlever finds to be the cause of the bong alerts.

Speedlever, once you isolate on a location that give you the alert (and you said visual also), you might go to your latest backup and start opening the .gpi files in Wordpad. Look for the street name on which the problem location occurs in each the files. Maybe there are multiples as BoxCar suggests.

I think you can do an initial "find" to get you to a starting point and then change the "find" to another value which wordpad will use to search from that point on down (ie. not start again at the top).